It’s good to talk – but we’re writing
IT’S often a sign that a relationship is in difficulties when communication is done in writing.
There has been plenty of newsprint written in the last week or so over the mystery of Deputy Andy Cameron’s exclusion from secondary and post-16 education discussions at the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture.
And now letters are doing the rounds – doing a reasonable job to explain how we got here. But they don’t do anything to give any encouragement that ESC and member Andy Cameron will have a meeting of minds any time soon, even though the ESC president has outlined how she would rather they talked to each other, than to the media. Deputy Cameron’s response seems to blow that out of the water.
The narrative is that ESC welcomes challenge, as any committee might, or indeed, should. Deputy Cameron’s response makes the embrace of challenge feel a very distant prospect.
And to add to this, nearly half the States has signed a letter urging an end to Deputy Cameron’s exclusion over the secondary school model.
There are a few potential endings to this saga. Not all will reflect well on all involved.
The important principle is that it is healthy for a range of views to be heard around the committee table.
All sides seem to agree on that, it’s just the practicalities that are proving to be difficult.